


A Mostly Decent Proposal

by SexuallyMonsterous (Alli_Bialystock)



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 22:05:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5515007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alli_Bialystock/pseuds/SexuallyMonsterous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard's proposal to Jared doesn't go quite as he'd hoped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mostly Decent Proposal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lies_d](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lies_d/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Ten Bobcats! :D

Richard was acting weird.

Well, okay, technically he was acting weirder than usual. But still.

Jared noticed the little tells all throughout the day of Christmas Eve. Richard had planned a weeklong trip to a sleepy Michigan town as a part of Jared’s Christmas gift, and they had spent what he could only describe as a perfect day out on the frozen beach, walking along the sand marbled with snow, looking out at the frothy ice of Lake Michigan and even taking a hike to go look for cardinals. Richard didn’t complain once about his feet (which Jared could only assume were entirely numb) and spent a great deal of time anxiously flexing his fingers when he thought Jared wasn’t looking. Jared’s normally quiet boyfriend was almost entirely silent, barely even noticing the frustrating half hour they spent looking for a place to eat. 

“Is everything alright, Richard?” Jared finally asked after they were seated in the bright pink and green booths of a 1950s style restaurant. 

Richard jumped. “Hm? Oh, yeah. Uh… yeah. Sorry.” Richard shifted awkwardly in his seat. “I guess I’m just kinda nervous, and I sorta thought we’d be eating someplace a little less… cheesy, I guess?”

“Oh. Well, there’s a brewery down the street, if you wanted to –“ 

“No.” Richard took a deep breath. “Fuck. I… I wanted to wait for a better time, but I think I have to do it now, because otherwise I might vomit on our waiter.”

“Do wha – Richard?” Jared watched in alarm as his boyfriend stood, running his hands over his pants to dry them before dropping to the checkerboard floor. “Richard, what are you…?”

Jared stopped dead when Richard pulled a small box out of his pocket. “I know it’s not perfect,” Richard began. “I mean, I wanted the whole day to be perfect, and I guess it was okay, and I didn’t really plan on doing this in an ice cream shop with fucking Elvis shit everywhere, but I don’t know, I just don’t think I can wait. I’ve already been waiting a while, and I’m just… tired of it, if that makes sense. And I was hoping I would do this in some super classy place without, you know, fluorescent lighting, but…” Richard took a deep breath and closed his eyes, shaking himself out of his ranting reverie. “Sorry. The point is, um.” Richard opened the box to reveal a silver ring shaped like a raven, curved around a sapphire stone. “Jared – Donald, sorry, shit – will you marry me?”

It’s not that Jared hadn’t thought about how this moment would go. He had. He thought he had a contingency plan for absolutely every variation and vividly imagined the vulnerable, terrified expression Richard was wearing now. He had always imagined a lot of repeating the word “yes,” a lot of hugging and kissing, and perhaps even some crying (almost certainly from himself), but he didn’t at all expect what he did next.

He burst out laughing.

Jared tried to hold it back when he saw Richard’s face fall, but he couldn’t. He only barely stifled his howls behind his hand, wrapping an arm around his aching ribs as he continued on and on. It was only when Richard stood, face flushed, and stormed out of the restaurant that he managed to bring his laughter down to giggling point. “Wait, Richard!”

Jared rushed out of the restaurant, still grinning, and jogged up to where Richard was still stomping away through the swirling snow. “Richard, wait! Let me explain!” He grabbed Richard’s elbow.

“Explain what?” Richard snapped, face still bright red. “Do you know how fucking hard that was for me to do? How nervous I’ve been all fucking week? And, just, fuck, Jared, what the fuck was that?!” 

Jared tried to pull back his smile. He didn’t think he was terribly successful. “Richard, I’m very sorry. I know that was hard for you and it was incredibly sweet, and wonderful, and perfect. Just like you. I promise.”

“Then why did you laugh?” Richard asked. His voice was wobbly and cracked at the end. His eyes were starting to look glassy.

“Because of this.” 

Richard watched with wide eyes as Jared got down on one knee in the snow and pulled a small box out of his pocket. He opened it to shown a nondescript silver ring with a power symbol in the middle. “Richard Hendricks,” he said with a smile, “I love you more than anything else in the world. I was going to wait until after dinner, but I suppose now is a good time to ask – will _you_ also marry _me?_ ”

Richard’s eyes panned from Jared’s face to the ring and back. Slowly, a grin broke over his face, and soon, he was sitting beside Jared in the snow, consumed with helpless giggles.

“You were – tonight? Really?”

“Yes!” Jared was laughing again. “I couldn’t believe it! And I was going to – well, am going to – spend all of tonight and tomorrow taking you to the places in town I thought you’d like, like the video game store and the used book store and…”

Jared was cut off by Richard’s lips pressing against his, pushing him back into the frozen ground. The two laid wrapped around each other, fat flakes of snow swirling around their heads, looking up into the cloudy pink sky. 

“So you’re saying yes, right?” Richard asked finally.

Jared chuckled breathlessly. “Yes, Richard. Of course. And you?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely.”


End file.
